Westhill boys lax beats Ludden, CBA

Moving to 7-4 on the season, the Westhill boys lacrosse team survived all kinds of wind and rain to earn an 18-12 victory over its neighbors from Bishop Ludden last Thursday night.

Essentially, the Warriors won this game in the first half, when it set a torrid pace, especially in the second quarter, and pulled away from the Gaelic Knights enough to snatch an 11-4 lead by halftime.

Ludden would cut the margin to 14-9 by the end of the third period, but would get no closer as Westhill seemed to answer every thrust with one of its own.

Dylan Tripodi had a part in half of the Warriors' scoring plays, finishing with four goals and five assists. Kyle Nicholas had a team-best five goals, adding an assist, while Dan Eipp and Tris Nicola each had three goals. Eipp added two assists. Sal Valenti had two goals and one assist, with John Zimmerman also scoring. Sam Penizotto and Austin Webb added assists, too.

Gaelic Knights goalie Shawn Lynch kept it from being worse, as he had 19 saves. In front of him, Brad Kirch (five goals, two assists) and Sean Conners (four goals, two assists) accounted for most of the attack, with Scott Cizenski, Sean Sobotka and Colin Lynch earning one goal apiece.

This served as a springboard for Westhill as, on Saturday, it notched another big victory, taking out Christian Brothers Academy 13-10.

Fresh off a big overtime win over Cazenovia two days earlier, the Brothers never recovered from a first half where Westhill controlled the ball and found many holes in CBA's defense, eventually working its way to a 9-5 halftime edge.

For the rest of the game, the Warriors nursed that lead as Tripodi stayed hot, finishing with four goals and two assists. Eipp (two goals, four assists) also had six points as Nicholas earned three goals and Nicola added two goals and two assists. Valenti also had two goals. David Biegler (three goals, one assist) and Nate Frechette (two goals, three assists) led CBA's effort.